• Apologies for absence: Councillors Raj Bath, John Cooper, Jason Ellar, Elizabeth Hughes and Rebecca Stewart.
• Apologies for lateness: Councillors Mark Bowen, Kamaljit Kaur, Adrian Lee and Balvir Sond.
• Declarations of interest: Councillors Colin Botterill, Tom Bruce, Sachin Gupta and Liz Mammatt declared non-pecuniary interestes as members of the Bedfont Lakes Trust Panel Members (in relation to page 83 of the agenda)

To receive announcements (if any) from the Mayor, Leader, Members of the Cabinet or the Head of Paid Service

To approve the minutes of the meetings held on 19^th December 2012 and 29^th January 2013.

Minutes of the meetings of the Council held on 19^th December 2012 and 29^th January 2013, agreed subject to the following amendments:

• Page 14, Item 2:  In Councillor Barbara Reid’s tribute to the late Tony Gurrin, the words “….and later in Isleworth and Brentford.’ To be deleted and replaced with the following “and remained involved with us in Brentford and Isleworth Conservative Association as well.”
• Page 19, Item 5:  Replace the last part of the sentence attributed to Councillor Ed Mayne which reads “He did not think it was appropriate to consult on the Council's policy on apprenticeships and clarified that the apprenticeship scheme had proven not to be a good use of money " and replace it with “He did not think it was appropriate to consult on matters such as the Council’s approach to apprentices and matters of a similar kind, and that to do so would not be a good use of money”.
• Page 19, Item 5: The phrase “…but it was not agreed” be replaced by “…but it was withdrawn”.
• Page 24, Item 7: Replace the third bullet point in the summary of the debate and replace with the following:
• • “The various benefit changes would cause genuine financial hardship for many people in the borough.
  • The introduction of the new Council Tax support scheme would mean that those currently receiving full Council Tax Benefit would be between £60 and £80 per year worse off.

And on the last bullet point, the wording after the word "existed" should be deleted

• Page 25, Item 9: replace “as well as for the proposed renewal of the dispersal zone in Bedfont” with “as well as regretting the abandonment of the dispersal zone in Bedfont”.
• Page 27, Item 9:  In Councillor Mayne’s summary of the debate, the term “police officers” to be replaced with the terms “the Police Licensing Officer”.

Report by the Head of Democratic Services 

RESOLVED –

That the petitions that had been forwarded to other formal bodies of the Authority for consideration be noted, and that the responses to the two petitions discussed at the meeting also be noted.

Report by Councillor Jagdish Sharma, Leader of the Council

Please note that Appendix A – Budget Book 2013-14 and Appendix B – Fees and Charges are not included in the main agenda pack because of their size.

They are available electronically on the website and available in hard copy on request. A public deposit copy will be available at the Civic Centre Reception desk.

For Councillors there is a Members’ Deposit copy to consult in the Members’ Services Office.

RESOLVED –

That the following recommendations be agreed:

Section 1 - Revenue Budget and Council Tax 2013/14

1. Council Tax

In respect of the calculation and setting of council tax, the Council resolves:

(i) That it be noted that at its meeting on 15 January 2012, the Cabinet calculated the Council Tax Base 2013/14 for the whole Council area as 74,631.86 [Item T in the formula in Section 31B of Local Government Finance Act 1992, as amended (the “Act”)].

(ii) That the council tax requirement for the Council’s own purposes for 2013/14 is £80,990,494

(iii) That the following amounts be calculated for the year 2013/14 in accordance with Sections 31 to 36 of the Act:

(a) £629,359,194 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for its total expenditure in accordance with the items set out in Section 31A(2) of the Act.

(b) £548,368,700 being the aggregate of the amounts which the Council estimates for its total income (including Formula Grant and Council Tax Surplus payable for the year into its General Fund) in accordance with the items set out in Section 31A(3) of the Act.

(c) £80,990,494 being the amount by which the aggregate (iii)(a) above exceeds the aggregate at (iii)(b) above, calculated by the Council in accordance with Section 31A(4) of the Act as its Council Tax requirement for the year. (Item R in the formula in Section 31B of the Act).

(d) £1,085.20, being the amount at (iii)(c) above (Item R), all divided by Item T at (i) above, calculated by the Council, in accordance with Section 31B of the Act, as the basic amount of its council tax for the year.

(iv) To note that for the year 2013/14 the Greater London Authority (GLA) has issued its precept to the Council in accordance with Section 40 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 for each category of dwellings in the Council’s area as indicated in the table below.

(v) That the Council, in accordance with Sections 30 and 36 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992, hereby sets the aggregate amounts shown in the tables below as the amounts of Council Tax for 2013/14 for each part of its area and for each of the categories of dwellings. (Amounts to be confirmed once GLA approves its precept)

(vi) To note that the Council’s basic amount of Council Tax for 2013/14 is not excessive in accordance with principles approved under Section 52ZB of the Local Government Finance Act 1992.

Revenue Budget

2. Approve a base budget of £189.3m referred to in paragraph 12.11 of the report.

Reserves and Balances

3. Transfer funds  ...  view the full decision text for item 5.

Report by the Head of Democratic Services

RESOLVED –

To note that Councillors Tom Bruce, Mel Collins, Shantanu Rajawat and Corinna Smart had been appointed to the Members Working Party on the Local Plan, an informal body.

None

The next meeting of the Council is scheduled for Tuesday 26^th March 2013 and will commence at 7.30pm in the Council Chamber 

Noted